The Gates of Hell Cannot Prevail

I believe that there is something in man that wants to worship God as his Creator, his God and sustainer. When we refuse to give in to that desire or refuse to recognize it, we end up worshipping other things. We end up worshipping cars, houses, sex, and status. All these things only give momentary pleasure or happiness but can never satisfy. I also believe that there is something in all of us that tends toward depravity and we can go either way. In God’s word we not only find hope for our souls as the Word points to God, we also find strength to fight off the demons that seek to lead us to the dark side.

Apart from having an on-going relationship with God, I believe one of the greatest things ever to happen to us is the Bible. In the thousands of years since the Old and New Testament were written, the sacred words in them have given hope, strength, peace and joy to those who adhere to the words written there. Not just the letter of the words but the spirit. The words were not written for our comfort but they are a template for us to live our lives by. The words are light which show us the state of our heart and lives in relation to God and how they should be. Thanks to the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has developed a great aversion to light. The natural tendency of man is to hide from the light and pretend that all is well.

The words written in the Bible were those men like Paul the Apostle, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, John Wesley and Watchman Nee all lived by and they found God and lived great and fruitful lives. These men did great wonders and saw great revelations of God’s power as a result of these wonder. It is therefore no wonder that I marvel at the arrogance of the men of this age who say they are “Christian” but hide from the light of these words. These people say the sacred words are outdated and we should jettison them and look for other words that agree with our predilections and proclivities. We should look for words that agree with our depravities and which do not show us the wrong that we do. Because they are condemned in their hearts by the sacred words, they want to away with the words. In this they have as allies those who hate God. Those that say they as Christian do not see any wrong in the alliances they have formed because they are moved by their senses.

Ever since the birth of Christianity, several people have risen up with the stated aim of killing it. In the intervening period, they are the ones who have died and the Church has gone on. I am convinced above all that the Church can never die. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would never prevail against the church. I believe this with all my heart. Therefore when I see hell rising up against the Church, while it worries me because I remember the persecution the Church will suffer before Christ returns, I am consoled and strengthened in knowing the Church has prevailed.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal. 

Taking The Test

I was talking to my brother the other day on the phone and by the time our conversation was over, I felt like a better person. At least I felt extremely wiser. I have come to understand that my brother has great wisdom. But there was something he said that especially caught my attention. He said that the world as it currently is has just one major function. The trial of our faith. At first when he said it I was startled. But as I thought about it the more, I realized that he was right.

Jesus told us that we are in this world but not of the world. The Bible tells us that we live in a fallen world. A world that is extremely distant from God’s glory. The Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Romans that we should not be conformed to this world but rather we should be transformed by the renewal of our minds. That tells me that there are things and situations that we will face that will try to make us conform but we need to rise above them so that we can be transformed. It tells me that transformation involves a lot of work. It tells me that transformation will not happen by itself but we need to take an active part in the process. Transformation will not occur passively.

The book of Galatians tells about the fruit of the Spirit in Chapter 5 at verses 22 to 23. The Bible doesn’t refer to them as “fruits” but fruit. That means that if you find one of them you are most likely to find the others. I believe the fruit was what Paul was referring to when he said we should let Christ be formed in us. The presence of the fruit shows that how much of Christ we have imbibed or how much we have matured into measure of the stature of Christ.

The world we live in is radically against Christ. The world hates him. To be able to live successfully as disciples of Christ, we need to have the same attributes and gifts he had. Just as the world did not like Christ because its works were those of darkness, the world will also be violently opposed to us if we decide to come out of darkness into the light. If you decide to say you belong to Christ, the world will test what you profess. How you respond to the tests the world throws at you will determine how much you grow as a Christian. Someone said Goliath was actually Saul’s giant to kill but he cowered and hid and David killed Goliath and received the reward. There are tests waiting for us when we wake up every day.  The Bible said for the glory that was before him Christ endured the cross. There are tests we need to pass daily so that we can grow and receive the crown. Rather than cower in fear, we should go out in boldness and faith every day, seeking to conquer the things that seek to conquer us. We should go out every day knowing the Holy Spirit in us will cause us to win. If only we would ask for his help. Like Lecrae said, “We have the power to start a riot, how can we deny it?”

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

Fight For The Faith

Jude 1:3: "... earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

Recently I watched an episode of "Being Mary Jane" a series on BET starring Gabrielle Union. According to the heroine, she had gone nowhere in her relationships despite being a "good girl". There was a point during the programme when she was in the car with her niece and she was listening to "He's Able" by Deitrick Haddon. So I understood that she was supposed to some sort of Christian. However by the end of the programme I began wondering who shaped the creators of the story's perception of what it meant to be Christian.

I am a firm believer that the Bible is quite clear and explicit about most things. The trouble arises when we decide to put our own spin on things or begin to infer things that are just not correct. When we decide the Bible is like a non-binding guide. That's when we begin to split hairs and choose what we will do or not do. I remember reading a comment on a blog and someone saying that the Bible was against pre-marital sex because of STD's. Which implies that now that STD's are no longer a problem because of science, then we should all let go of our inhibitions and go out and have a good time. I wonder who or what shaped that perception of Christianity. I believe that perception is wrong but unfortunately that is the perception a lot of people have. I believe that perception stems from the deep rooted inclination toward rebellion in man. The thought that no one. not even God can tell me what to do.

There is a contention in the world today about what Christianity is all about. I recently read an article about how soldiers at a camp were told that a Christian organisation is a "hate group". That means that they think Christianity is all about hate. There are those who also say that Christianity is all about love. That no matter what you do, it's okay because God loves you. The first position comes from those who don't like like to be told that they are wrong while the second group don't wan't to be wrong. They both stem from the idea that nothing we do as human beings can be wrong. That for you to love someone means condoning what they do. And there are those who say they are Christians who agree with them. The lives they live are contrary to what Christ says. They therefore shape the perception of those who see them and they decide what it means to be Christian.

Nothing on earth can survive without a system, a structure keeping it in place. Even love has it rules. The first rule of love is that you must show it for it to be believed. You can't say you love someone without showing it. I have said before that I do not accept the labels like liberal or conservative that we put on Christianity nowadays. I am a Christian because I believe in Jesus and I have accepted him as my love and Saviour. I love him and I want to show him from my relationship with him and with men. I however have a responsibility to present an accurate picture of who he is to all men. Not who I think he is or who I want him to be. Who he is. No more, no less. I however have a responsibility to speak out when people misrepresent him or his people, one of whom I am. We all do.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

The Myth of Equality

The California legislature is at it again. In the name of equality and a fairer society (as they see it) the law makers just passed Bill AB 1266 into law. One of the provisions of the law which comes into the force next year is that a student who is male but feels he is female can choose to use whichever bathroom he (or she wants). That means a guy who has not even had a sex change to into whatever he feels he should be, can waltz into any bathroom he feels like, male today; female tomorrow. He doesn't have to choose either one. On the other hand if anyone tries to stop him from entering either one, then that person will be guilty of discrimination.

The California legislature, emboldened by the Supreme Court's striking down of Proposition 8 and other laws and by a strong liberal lobby have passed this absurd law with a view to creating a picture of 'equality' not realising that equality is a myth and a myth not worth chasing after. When you chase after equality all you end up with is absurdity. Instead of chasing after the myth of equality, what we should be seeking after is fairness. There is a difference between equality and fairness and I'll write about that some other day. However what we have now is the tyranny of the minority over the majority.

People may think that I'm a pessimistic or an alarmist but I don't think so. I just believe that I see things. I honestly believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is the final authority on our lives here on earth. When we fail to adhere to God's Word and we feel something that God says doesn't matter, we will begin to see things we never believed were possible. I believe that when a country establishes as law something that is contrary to God's law, it won't come alone. The spirit of the age is equality and reasonableness. Slowly and silently, the spirit of the age will come slowly with the 'cousins' of that thing that is against the Word. Like I said yesterday, things will get worse. Sometime ago, I heard a lawyer in the United Kingdom asked that the age of consent be lowered to 13. If that doesn't sound like paedophilia, I don't know what is. We need to pray like we have never prayed before. But I believe that just like the Church came together with other people to get Proposition 8 passed, we need to partner with other like minded people to get the law changed.